[Roboticization, Identity Death]

The war against the Abyssals was a tough one. An endless enemy that came from the bottom of the ocean, one that seemingly never went away no matter how hard they tried, and one that managed to convert fallen allies into new enemies. It was a difficult thing to swallow, especially for the highest-ranking admirals that had seen their allies fall again and again.

Even with the new addition of Shipgirls, girls who had fused with the essence of old warships, the war continued without an end in sight. Every fallen Shipgirl just added to the turmoil that the admirals felt, and the drive that would push them to try and save the ones that they had let down.

Most admirals felt that way. And then some couldn’t be bothered to deal with their Shipgirls’ antics. Especially the loud and proud ones that always seemed to serve as a thorn in their sides. Such was the case for three particular ships that served under Admiral Otomo Tsubaki. A high ranking officer with a lot of pedigree…

And absolutely zero tolerance for shenanigans. Hence why a certain trio of girls were currently standing in front of her desk, each of them looking a little embarrassed to be there. “Girls. I want you all to consider why you’re here.” Tsubaki chillingly stated as she glared into each of their eyes for a brief moment, while she concealed her frown against her gloved hands.

“Oh, I know! It’s the food, isn’t it? Iowa messed up cooking and made a mess. That’s why Admiral is upset, yes?” The blonde foreigner among the three girls, Iowa, nervously smiled in response to the question as she rubbed away at the back of her head. Compared to her contemporaries, she was dressed in a rather showy fashion, to the point where her breasts were practically bare given how much difficulty her top had in covering them up.

The black-haired girl among the three, Sendai, crossed her arms as she displayed a few of the bandages she had accumulated over the last few nights. “I charged ahead into enemy lines, and though I managed to wipe them out, I kept getting damaged to the point where I’ve spent every night barely staying together!” She declared with a lot of gusto, even though she should be feeling ashamed about it all…

Finally, there was the brunette, Kongou. “Oh, I was supposed to be here? I just saw Iowa and Sendai approaching the Admiral’s room, and I was curious as to why they were coming in here so late!” The loudmouth chimed, her cheeks red as if she was trying to play off the fact that she knew exactly why she was here.

Their admiral blankly stared at the three blushing girls as she sighed loudly. “You give me a headache. How come anybody would ever want a bunch of misfits like you three in their navy?” Tsubaki muttered underneath her breath as she gently slammed her forehead into the back of her hands, feeling frustration mounting through her mind…

“Admiral, there’s no reason to feel bad! We did a few bad things, but I’m sure we can make it up to you somehow!” Sendai chimed proudly as she looked to her two companions. “Right? Kongou, Iowa?”

Kongou laughed a little as she ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t think I’ve done anything that wrong, but if it’s to make the Admiral happy, then I’ll happily try it!”

“Admiral’s happiness is my happiness!” Iowa replied as she winked towards her commanding officer, a star twinkling in her eye.

They were all useless in their own way… That is until a little devilish thought started running through Tsubaki’s mind. She slowly started to smirk as she remembered a little device that she had been given by the higher-ups, something that she was allowed to try and test to make sure it was ready for public use. Now, she knew that she wouldn’t dare try and use it on her two most loyal companions, or even that feisty broad Nagato, but… These three suckers, who had been a problem for her ever since they came here? They’d be perfect for it.

“Very well. I do know one way that you three can make me happy.” The purple-haired Admiral said as she pulled a little device out of her pocket, something that was just as small as a normal puzzle cube. It was so small that it was hard for all three girls to crowd around it, leaving them to kneel at the edge of the table as they pushed their cheeks up against one another to stare straight at it. Which just served to tick off their Admiral a little more thanks to their unified stupidity.

Iowa’s eyes lit up as she prodded a little finger against the side of the device. “What’s it supposed to do, Admiral?” She asked very plainly, almost reaching to grab it only for her Admiral to slap her across the wrist to stop her from fiddling too much with it.

“It’s supposed to serve as a portable way to retrofit Shipgirls. Instead of opting for something custom that can improve your individual performance, this imparts a general set of improvements that standardizes performance among the different classes of ships, which means that two different Carriers will end up acting the same by the time the device has finished upgrading them. Any other stupid questions?” Tsubaki explained as she adjusted her hat, only to notice Kongou holding up a hand. “Kongou.”

The brunette smiled as she tried to grab the cube, only to be denied in the exact same way as her blonde friend. “Ehe, well, Admiral… A retrofit’s supposed to be pretty expensive, isn’t it? Are you sure you wanna go through that trouble for us three? I thought you had a problem with us, not that you wanted to reward us or something!” She couldn’t even tell that there was no doubt an ulterior motive for all of this…

“I told you it would make me happy if you three tried it out. It’s experimental, and the brass won’t take it back until I’ve confirmed if it works or not. This way, you help out not only me but also the rest of the navy. That’s a win for me, and a win for you.” The purple-haired Admiral put on a fake smile as she turned to stare towards Sendai, who was crossing her arms in a perplexed manner. “Sendai?”

The black-haired girl tilted her head back and forth. “I dunno, Admiral. I kinda like how I perform compared to everyone else. That means I can go ahead and attack during night battles, and the others can hang back and support me. Are you sure you want that to change? I mean, I’ll gladly do this if it makes you happy, but won’t that take away a good combatant?” Surprisingly, the most eager and reckless of the three had the most sound head on her shoulders…

Which just prompted her Admiral to grab her cheeks and squeeze them together. “Listen. You three do this for me, and you’re forgiven for your accidents. How much more do you need to hear?” Her patience was growing thin, that much was clear. Thankfully, they each got the message as they nodded in unison. “Good. Now that we’re all on the same page, let me just start the process…”

Tsubaki pulled her hands back as she slammed her palm down on the top of the cube-shaped object, narrowing her eyes as she muttered under her breath. “And hopefully the three of you will stop bothering me once you’ve been upgraded.”

Seconds later, the process started. Initially, a set of beams started shooting out of the sides, with each turning into a scanning ray that gradually moved up and down, taking internal notes about several factors related to the three girls’ heights, builds and so on. It was merely preprocessing compared to the main event, but the three remained as still as possible so that they could make their Admiral happy.

That is, except for Kongou. “So, Admiral? How long is it going to take? I kinda need to go eat, and-” She started speaking up, and thus she sealed her fate to be the first of the three girls to experience her retrofitting.

It happened so fast. Another beam shot out of the cube as it connected to the brunette’s body like a tether. As soon as it made contact with her body, the area around the connected tissue began to turn into metal. Both of her friends were quiet as they looked towards the Battlecruiser, who seemed to be... Well…

“W-What’s happening!? Why am I turning grey!? Admiral, you didn’t say anything about this!” The girl was frankly terrified, and who could blame her? Her soft body, the one that she had groomed ever since she had merged with the spirit of the Battlecruiser, was now turning into nothing more than a metallic shell that had an awfully dull grey color. All of her usual loud energy, which she had pumped into the way she dressed, was being muted by the retrofitting process.

It wasn’t just her body either, as her another beam started shooting out of the box as it connected to her head. Almost instantly, a bit of drool started running down her chin. Finally, a bit of quiet. She didn’t even say a word as she felt her senses being overloaded. Not with feedback, but with pleasure. Clearly, somebody on the team that designed this device was a pervert, given the way that her underwear was being soaked in mere seconds.

Her lips moved, yet no sound came out as the rest of her body turned that very same shade of metallic grey. It spread across her torso, her thighs and her arms. Nothing was left uncovered, as her clothes were gradually dissolved by the beams. The Battlecruiser’s body was completely bare to the elements, though her new metallic frame wouldn’t be deterred. Her breasts were as perky as ever, and her ass seemed to be quite as perky. Though you wouldn’t be able to get nearly the same kind of soft squish if you pushed your fingers into them.

As soon as the spread of metal reached her head, the girl that was known as Kongou was gone. Her hair was given the exact same treatment as her body, turning metallic as it drastically shortened until there was nothing left but an unremarkable bob cut. The Admiral did say that her performance would be standardized after being upgraded, which meant that she would look just as unremarkable as anybody else that got a retrofit from it.

“K-Kongou… A-Admiral, you…” Iowa seemed outright distraught by what had happened to her loud friend, tears starting to stream down her cheeks. “You’re the worst..!”

Tsubaki raised a finger to nonverbally shut her up. “She’s not Kongou, Iowa. She’s Battlecruiser. Learn to be respectful towards your fellow shipgirls.” She said in the most mocking tone she could manage, feeling a lot of glee towards the fact that the three of them were going to be nice, obedient and utterly unremarkable by the time their conversions were complete…

The blonde girl wanted to just run away, or better yet, run over to the metal Battlecruiser and give her a loving hug to try and bring her back… but that desire was intercepted by the same set of beams that had converted the latter into a machine. Thanks to her agitated and emotionally heightened state, it was now her turn to be retrofitted.

“I don’t want this! I don’t want to be made of metal! Admiral! ADMIRAL! PLEASE!” The American Shipgirl screamed as the tears streamed down her cheeks… only for the flow to stop right then and there, the effects of the retrofitting hitting her mind far quicker than it had for Kongou. Her expression immediately turned from a saddened and frightened one into a plain and obedient one, the stars in her eyes being replaced by normal and unremarkable irises.

Much like what had happened to her brunette companion, her clothes dissolved leaving nothing behind. However, due to her excessive assets in comparison to the other two girls, there was a noticeable shift in size as the metallic hues started covering up her naked body. Her bosom shrunk inward ever slightly, with the orbs getting a shiny finish to turn them sleeker and to make them more effective in combat. After all, while the main purpose of the retrofitting was to standardize every single retrofitted ship, all of them were also intended to be sleek and sexy in their uniform fashion. Whether that was going to be useful or not was up for debate, but the way she became as unremarkable as Battlecruiser… Well, it certainly made the Admiral blush.

Once the changes reached her head, much the same happened to her hair. The long and luscious locks that made up her beautiful hair shrunk down to the size of a bob cut, though her color was kept. After all, blonde was a good look for a Battleship. That was what she was now. Nothing more than a simple and effective Battleship. A companion Shipgirl to the Battlecruiser, who would help her in bombarding the enemy from afar.

That only left the tough and enthusiastic Sendai, who seemed… Almost a little too quiet at the prospect of what was about to happen. “Admiral… Why?” Were the only words she could muster, her usual vigor having practically been wrung out of her then and there. It was actually a little pitiful to see her like that, compared to how she normally acted…

“I told you when I offered this to you. You’d make me happy by accepting this. I don’t want to see you three ruining anything in this base ever again. With the three of you turned into generic retrofitted models, you will never be able to bother me, ever again. It’s that simple.” Tsubaki explained, adjusting her hat ever slightly to obscure her expression. “Just accept your fate and we can move on.”

The cruelty of her words made the black-haired girl raise her arm towards her commanding officer, a single mounted turret appearing on her wrist. She was desperate. She wanted to avenge her fallen friends right then and there, to pay the Admiral back for what she had done… and yet, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her arm fell right back down, as she slowly lifted her face…

And smiled. “I-If… If that’s the case… T-Then I hope you’re happy, Admiral..!” The tears were streaming down her face, yet she kept on smiling. Even in the face of losing her identity, she tried her best to look on the positive side. Like she always had done whenever she was fighting at night…

Her Admiral just watched as the beams from the retrofitting device fired off towards her, connecting to her face and her chest just like the rest of them. Thanks to the way that she had accepted her fate, the process barely took a few minutes. Though, as if the device wanted to mock the one that had activated it, it specifically mechanized everything except for her face, saving it for last.

To think that she’d be forced to stare straight ahead at that saddened and forgiving smile until the end, where it’d fade into the same unfulfilling and unmoving expression like the one her two companions wore. With her black bob cut, Light Cruiser completed the set. All three looked practically identical, with only minute differences in their body types. Like the others, she was no doubt able to call upon her weapons at a moment’s notice, which meant that she was ready for combat at any time. As soon as the abyssals would appear, she would be ready. That was what she was meant for. That was what all three of them were meant for. Exterminating the menace from the bottom of the ocean.

Tsubaki stared straight ahead at the three girls, adjusting her cap just a little… as a single tear rolled down her face. She didn’t want to admit it. She didn't want to say that she regretted any of this. They were a pain in her back and they were the worst people to be around. They deserved this… They…

They loved her. She couldn’t hold back her tears as they started streaming down her face. She could feel her heart aching over what she had done, as she brushed the retrofitting device off the table. She quickly jumped out of her seat as she ran around the table, pulling all three near-identical girls into a hug. A hug that they responded to in kind with one of their own, something they had been pre-programmed to respond to.

She had taken them all for granted, and now they weren't’ going to be there for her. She’d curse her stubborn and foolish self for what she had done, but she couldn’t due to the innate pride within her. Instead, she was just going to wallow in her own self-pity, letting the cold and unfeeling metal caress her in her time of need. Even if they were going to be more effective, more useful, and an overall general improvement…

...Tsubaki was going to miss the three of them...